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In contrast to the tricyclic antidepressants, the SSRI's:

a. are more likely to cause cardiac arrhythmias.
b. are potentially fatal when combined with an MAOI.
c. are less likely to produce extrapyramidal effects.
d. are less likely to cause anticholinergic effects.

D. For the exam, you want to know that the SSRIs have several advantages over the tricyclics. Among other things, they cause fewer side effects including anticholinergic effects. However, they often produce gastrointestinal symptoms and, in some patients, extrapyramidal effects. Like the tricyclics, the SSRIs can cause serious problems when taken in conjunction with an MAOI.

Holland's approach to vocational guidance is based on the assumption that:

a. interests motivate occupational choice.
b. behavior is a function of personality-environment congruence.
c. job satisfaction and performance are related to a match between aptitude and job requirements.
d. interest change in a predictable way over the course of the lifespan.

B. You may be familiar with Holland's six occupational themes but unaware that they represent both personality and enviornment types. According to Holland, job satisfaction, productivity, and other behaviors are affected by the fit between a person's personality an the nature of the work environment.

B. Continuance commitment refers to the costs of leaving the company. Affective commitment refers to the employee's psychological attitudes towrd the organization; mormative commitment is the employee's perceived obligation to stay with the company. Given these definitions, it makes sense that continuance commitment would be least related to job satisfaction and other job-related attitudes and more to practical considerations.

A recent trend in organizational compensation is to use team and organization-wide incentives. Research evaluating the effects of these incentives suggests that:

a. they are associated with lower levels of productivity than individual incentives
b. they are associated with lower levels of productivity than individual incentives as well as with lower morale, increased sabotage, and other undesirable consequences.
c. they have little or no effect on productivity but do improve satisfaction and commitment.
d. they have positive effects on productivity, especially when incentives are linked to performance.

D. Gainsharing and profit-sharing are the most common group and organization-wide incentive plans used in organizations. The studies have found that they are associated with increased productivity, especially gainsharing which is more closely links bonuses to individual and group performance.

The _______ is believed to be involved in the production of rage.

a. hypothalamus
b. medulla
c. RAS
d. left hemisphere

A. A number of areas of the brain mediate emotion including the amygdala, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and frontal lobes. Of these structures, the hypothalamus has been most directly linked to the production of rage.

When scoring the Rorschach, "form quality" is a measure of the degree to which:

a. determinants are fully integrated.
b. a response meaningfully integrates two or more adjacent detail areas.
c. the examinee's response corresponds to the actual structure of the inkblot.
d. the examiniee's response makes use of the entire inkblot.

C. Form quality refers to the degree to which an examinee's response is consistent with the form (shape) of the inkblot.

Path analysis is useful for:

a. examining the unidirectional relationships among a set of measured and latent traits.
b. examining the bidirectional relationships among a set of measured and latent traits.
c. examining the unidirectional causal relationships among a set of measured traits.
d. examining the bidirectional causal relationships among a set of measured traits.

C. Path analysis is a causal modeling technique. It is somewhat limited compared to other techniques because it permits only one-way (unidirectional) paths between variables and involves looking only at the relationships among measured variables.

C. Explicit and implicit memory are believed to be controlled by different brain circuitry: The hippocampus, medial thalamus, and prefrontal cortex for explicit memory, and the basal ganglia, ventral thalamus, and premotor cortex for implicit memory

Dementia and depression both involve cognitive deficits. However, in comparison to dementia, depression:
a. is more likely to involve impaired free recall while recognition memory is left relatively intact.
b. is more likely to involve impaired declarative memory while procedural memory is left relatively intact.
c. is more likely to involve impaired nonverbal memory than verbal memory.
d. is more likely to cause deficits on abstract memory tasks than on concrete memory tasks

A. It's sometimes hard to distinguish between depression and dementia because they share several symptoms, especially cognitive deficits. However, the pattern of cognitive deficits differs. For example, depression is likely to impair free recall only, while dementia affects both free recall and recognition.

When conducting a factor analysis, an oblique rotation is preferred when:

a. more than two factors have been extracted.
b. the underlying factors are believed to be dependent.
c. the assumption of homeoscedasticity has been violated.
d. the number of factors is equal to the number of tests.

B. Functional amnesia is characterized by anterograde amnesia, especially for personal (autobiographical) information, which helps distinguish it from organic amnesia, which usually includes some degree of both anterograde and retrograde amnesia and is not limited to personal information.

The power differential is considered to be inherent to the therapeutic relationship. A feminist therapist deals with this difference in power by:

B. The issue of pwer is addressed in the writings of many feminist therapists. Most agree that a power differential is inherent to the therapeutic relationship and recommend that it be acknowledged and then minimized as much as possible.

B. Memory impairments related to AIDS dementia complex are related more to general forgetfulness and confusion than to an actual inability to acquire new information. Slowed motor and thinking processes, impairments in visuospatial skills, and intact language are characteristic of this type of dementia.

B. Usually a combined treatment is best, but in the case of PTSD, the research suggests that prolonged exposure is the best treatment. While stress inoculation training is also effective alone, it doesn't seem to add much to prolonged exposure.

The primary presenting problem for gay and lesbian adolescents has been found to be social and emotional isolation. This problem is particularly prominent during which stage of identity development?

a. contact
b. confusion
c. identity comparison
d. identity synthesis

C. There are several models of homosexual identity development. The one referred to in this question includes six stages ("CCTAPS"): confusion, identity comparison, tolerance, acceptance, pride, and identity synthesis. Social isolation is strongest during the identity comparison stage when adolescents begin to accept their homosexuality and, as a result, become increasingly aware that they differ from most members of society.

Statistically, selection bieas is determined by comparing:

a. the predictor means of different groups.
b. the criterion means and variances of differnt groups.
c. the regression line slopes of different groups.
d. the factor structure of the predictor for different groups.

C. Selection bias is occurring when a test has different levels of predictive validity for different groups. Statistically, this is determined by comparing the regression lines for the two groups to see if there is a difference in their slopes and/or the Y-intercept. If there is, then using a common regression line to make selection decisions for members of both groups may result in an underestimate of criterion scores for one group and an overestimate for the other group.

Research comparing beliefs about the cause of memory problems among older and younger adults suggests that:

a. younger adults are much more likely than older adults to attribute memory impairments in the elderly to a lack of effort or other controllable factors.
b. older adults are more likely to attribute memory impairments in the elderly to the effects of aging, while younger adults are more likely to attribute memory impairments in the elderly to a lack of effort or other controllable factors.
c. younger and older adults are both much more likely to attribute memory impairments in the elderly to the effects of aging than to controllable factors.
d. younger and older adults are both more likely to attribute memory impairments in young people and the elderly to controllable factors than to aging or other uncontrollable factors.

C. Older and younger adults both fall prey to the stereotype that substantial memory loss is a natural part of the aging process and automatically attribute memory problems in older people to their advanced age.

At the end of the first year:

a. children's babbling begins to narrow to the sounds of their native language.
b. children begin to commit errors of overextension and underextension.
c. children begin to realize that certain sounds can get their parent's attention and help.
d. children start putting two words together to make a sentence.

C. Around one year of age, children attempt to imitate their parents' language, learn that certain sounds can affect the behavior of others , and utter their first words.

A. ERT (estrogen replacement therapy)can reduce hot flashes, improve mood, reverse vaginal dryness, and decrease the risk for osteoporosis, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease. However, despite some of the initial claim for its positive effects, ERT does not seem to increase libido and, in fact, may have the opposite effect.

A client of yours has recently filed a suit against her employer for sex discrimination. You receive a subpoena from the employer's attorney requesting you to appear at a deposition and to bring the client's file. When you contact the client, she tells you she doesn't want you to provide any information about the things she has talked about in therapy. Your best course of action is to:

a. provide the requested information since privilege is waived in this situation.
b. provide only the information you believe is relevant to the case.
c. appear at the deposition as requested but refuse to provide information about the woman.
d. discuss the situation with the employer's attorney before the date of the depostion.

D. This situation is a common question on the exam, and resolving the issue is not always simple. Certainly, a psychologist could assert the privilege at a deposition but a better initial step would be to contact the employer's attorney to discuss the possibility of withdrawing the request for information (or limiting the kind of information that is required) before the deposition.

D. The rates of suicide for white males continues to increase during adulthood, with elderly white males having the highest suicide rates. The pattern is different for African-American males whose highest rates are between the ages of 20 and 34.

Based on the psychotherapy outcome research, your best estimate of the percentage of therapy clients showing measurable improvement at the end of therapy is:

a. 25%
b. 45%
c. 60%
d. 75%

D. The right answer to this question really depends on which research study is being asked about since the reported rates of improvement vary from study to study. However, 75% is the number referred to most often in the literature and is the best answer to this question.

According to Helms, adoption of a belief in white superiority is characteristic of which level of white racial identity development?

C. The most recent version of Helms's white racial identity development model includes six independent statuses: contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudo-independence, immersion-emersion, and autonomy. Unfortunately, the names of the statuses don't provide clues about what occurs at each level. The reintegration stage, which is the right answer for this question, is characterized by adoption of a belief in white racial superiority and the inferiority of ethnic/racial minorities.

In their 1987 meta-analysis of the psychotherapy outcome research on children and adolescents, Weisz et al. report a larger effect size for behavioral than nonbehavioral treatments. Their more recent (1995)meta-analysis:

a. refutes their previous findings by showing that behavioral and nonbehavioral treatments are essentially equivalent.
b. found behavioral methods to be more effective than nonbehavioral methods for younger children only.
c. found behavioral methods to be more effective than nonbehavioral methods for adolescents only.
d. confirms their previous findings by showing that behavioral methods have significantly more positive effects than nonbehavioral methods.

D. The more recent Weisz et al. meta-analysis confirmed some of the findings of the earlier analysis but disconfirmed other findings. Both meta-analyses did find behavioral treatments to be significantly more effective than nonbehavoral treatments.

A. A distinction is made in the leadership literature between transformational and transactional leaders. Transformational leaders empower employees, raise their consciousness, and successfully guide them through organizational change. In contrast, transactional leaders focus on conforming to rules and regulations and maintaining the status quo.

Older adults are likely to have more problems than young adults on tasks involving which type of memory?

a. remote
b. primary
c. explicit
d. semantic

C. The literature on aging and memory is confusing because different authors focus on different aspects of memory (recent versus remote, implicit versus explicit, etc.) and few make direct comparisons between the different aspects. Of the types of memory listed, though, problems in explicit (deliberate) memory have most consistently been linked to advancing age. In contrast, remote long-term memory, primary (short-term) memory, and semantic memory are not strongly affected by normal aging.

A. There are several behavioral models of depression but probably the oldest is the operant conditioning model, which describes it as the result of being on an extinction schedule for an extended period of time. The depressed person has had little or no access to reinforcement.

A current trend in the field of personnel management is using selection techniques that ensure a good "person-organization fit." The research suggests that a good fit:

a. has positive effects on individual satisfaction, commitment, and productivity as well as significant long-term benefits at the organizational level.
b. has positive effects on individual satisfaction, commitment, and productivity but may have negative long-term effects at the organizational level.
c. has little or no effect on individual satisfaction, commitment, and productivity but does have long-term benefits at the organizational level.
d. has negative effects on individual satisfaction, commitment, and productivity and few long-term effects at the organizational level.

B. Research on person-organization fit has focused primarily on individual outcomes (which seem positive). The few studies that have looked at organizational-level effects are not as supportive and suggest that, in the long run, too good of a fit between the employees and the organization can reduce creativity, and adaptibility to change, etc.

Delayed recall of specific events is usually first evident when children are ______ months of age.

a. 10
b. 13
c. 16
d. 19

B. Until recently, it was believed that infants do not recall events that occur during their daily lives. This belief has been challenged by research showing that children as young as 11 months have accurate immediate recall for specific events and that, by 13 months, children have accurate delayed recall.

The owner of the Acme Company institutes a two-tier compensation plan and, much to her dismay, finds that within a short time, lower-paid employees are less willing to work hard and all employees have low morale. This result is most directly predicted by:

C. To answer this question, you need to know that a two-tier compensation system involves basing wage differences solely on when an employee is hired so that new employees make less than employees who were hired in previous years. Of the the thoeries listed in the answers, equity theory most directly addresses the potential consequences of this kind of inequity.

Dr. Dominguez notices that the data she has collected violates the assumptions of homogeneity of variance. This will have the greatest impact on the accuracy of the results of her ANOVA if:

a. the independent variable has more than three levels.
b. the ANOVA is conducted as a one-tailed test.
c. the number of subjects in each group is not the same.
d. the subjects were not randomly assigned to groups.

C. This is one you don't need to understand for the exam. Just remember that a violation of the assumption of homogeneity of variance is very serious when the groups are of a different size.

Some of the atypical antipsychotics such as clozapine are believed to exert their effects by restoring the balance between:

C. Recent theories about the cause of Schizophrenia expand the traditional dopamine hypothesis by including other neurotransmitters, especially serotonin and norepinephrine. Several of these theories propose that Schizophrenia is due to an imbalance bewtween dopamine an norepinephrine and/or serotonin and that some antipsychotics work by restoring the balance. Support for this hypothesis comes from studies showing that some schizophrenics (especially paranoid schizophrenics) have higher-than-normal levels of norepinephrine.

The biological sibling of a person who has received a diagnosis of Schizophrenia is ________ times more likely to become schizophrenic than a member of the general population.

a. two
b. four
c. ten
d. twenty

C. The reported concordance rates for Schizophrenia are pretty consistent. For the general population, the rate is 1%; for biological siblings, it's 10%.

Seven-year old Billy is easily distracted, is always "on the go," talks excessively and often interrupts while someone else is talking, squirms in his seat in his class, rusns in the school halls and in the house, and can't play quiet games. The diagnosis for Billy is ADHD,

C. This is a difficult question because you don't know if these are the only symptoms Billy has or if they're just some of his symptoms. For the exam, the best strategy is to assume that all of the information you need in order to pick the right answer is given in the question. Based on this assumption, Billy has seven symptoms of ADHD - one that reflects inattentiveness and six that reflect hyperactivity-impulsivity. This is consistent with a DSM-IV diagnosis of ADHD, Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type.

An advantage of LISREL and similar structural modeling techniques is that:

a. they help untangle the contributions of error and true score variance to observed relationships among a set of variables.
b. they simplify the task of identifying causal relationships by considering only one-way paths between any pair of variables.
c. they help isolate the effects of a moderator variable on each of the dependent variables.
d. they are easier to interpret than alternative methods.

A. LISREL is used to test casual hypotheses about the relationships among a set of variables. One advantage of LISREL is that it helps sort out the contributions of true score variance and error variance to observed relationships between variables. (Perhaps you could have answered this question through the process of elimination since the other answers don't accurately describe LISREL.)

Threats of retaliation for aggressive behavior:

a. almost always increase aggression
b. almost always decrease aggression
c. are more likely to deter aggression when the retaliator has high status or power.
d. are more likely to deter aggression when the retaliator has previously provoked the person.

C. The studies have shown that threats of retaliation work in some situations but not in others. Not surprisingly, threats are more likely to suppress aggression when the retaliator is of high status or has a great deal of power. In contrast, if the retaliator has previously provoked the person, threats are more liklely to increase aggression.

Xandria's idea on how to solve a problem is at odds with how membersof her team want to proceed. Research on minority influence suggestss that Xandria will be most successful in convincing her fellow team members to see things her way if she:

a. first agrees with their position and then gradully introduces her solution.
b. introduces her solution and then firmly sticks to it.
c. uses ingratiation to win the group leader over to her side.
d. cashes in her "idiosyncracy credits."

B. Although there is probably more than one way for Xandria to get her way., research on minority influence has found that firm, consistent commitment to a position is the best way to change the opinon of the majority.

A therapist who discusses wht clients their needs for power and affiliation is most likely a proponent of:
a. rational-emotive therapy.
b. Adlerian therapy.
c. reality therapy.
d. gestalt therapy.

C. According to the theory upon which reality therapy is based, human beings, like all living organisms, spend their lives acting on the world around them in an attempt to fulfill powerful needs: survival, belonging (i.e., affiliation), power, fun, and freedom. People suffering from psychological disorders are seen as failing to act upon or control the world to satisfy one or more of these needs, and part of the process of reality therapy involves identifying what it is the client wants or needs but cannot satisfy.

A man is paralyzed from the waist down. With regard to his sexual performance, which is most likely?

a. He can have an erection and ejaculate.
b. He can neither have an erection nor ejaculate.
c. He can have an erection but cannot ejaculate.
d. He can ejaculate but cannot have an erection.

C. The effects of spinal cord injury on sexual functioning will vary from patient to patient, depending on the area of the spinal cord that has been lesioned. Some patients will be able to have erections and ejaculate, whereas others will not be able to do either. However, a majority of paraplegic males are able to attain erections. Ejaculation, by contast, is more vulnerable to the effects of spinal cord injuyr, with only a minority of paraplegic patients able to ejaculate following a lesion. Therefore, C is the best answer, even though it is certainly not right in all cases.

An employee at a company has a bad reputation for showing up late and being unmotivated. On a Likert-type scale analyzing work performance, his supervisor rates him low in all areas. This is an example of:

C. The halo effect occurs when evaluations of one aspect of a person's behavior influence evaluations of other aspects. The halo effect can be positive or negative; i.e., it can result in a bias in favor of or against a person. Here, we see an example of it operating in a negative way.

You want to do a research study comparing the effectiveness of a treatment for anxiety for people with varying levels of anxiety. You divide the people into three categories: those with severe symptoms; those with moderate symptoms; and those with mild symptoms. You determine if the subjects showed improvement, remained the same, or had severe symptoms. Which statistical test would you use to analyze the data in this case?

a. chi-square
b. one-way ANOVA
c. Mann Whitney U
d. factorial ANOVA

A. In this case, the data for the dependent variable are collected by classifying subjects into three catogories - improved, stayed the same, and got worse. The chi-square is the appropriate statistical test to analyze frequencies of observations within categories. Results of the chi-square indicate whether observed frequencies differ fromwhat is expected under the null hypothesis. For example, in this case, the null hypothesis might be based on spontaneous remission rates - if in the population, 25% of anxious people improve, 50% remain the same, and 25% worsen without therapy, these are the frequencies you would expect to find in your study if the null hypoethis were true. The chi-square test would allow you to test if what you obtain in your study significantly differs from these percentages.

Note that it would be possible to use the Mann Whitney U in this situation if there were only two groups since the dependent variable measure - improvement, stayed the same, got worse - is ordinal in nature. However, there are three groups being compared here - mild, moderate, and severe symptom groups. The Mann Whitney U is used only to compare two groups when the data are ordinal.

Who is responsible for writing statutory regulations related to the field of psychology?

a. American and Canadian Psychological Associations
b. state and province regulatory boards
c. state and province judicial bodies
d. state and province psychological associations

B. State and province psychology boards write and enforce regulations that apply to the professional practice of psychology, such as requirements for licensure, definition of and penalties for unprofessional conduct, etc.

Which of the following symptoms is most likely to occur during the onset of central nervous system impairment due to AIDS?

D. About 2/3 of adult AIDS patients develop at least a moderate degree of dementia before they die, reflecting the fact that AIDS can result in numerous neurological disorders. The course and symptoms of AIDS-related Dementia will vary from patient to patient. In most cases, however, the disorder begins insidiously with the most frequent symptoms being mild forgetfulness and loss of concentration. Patients typically have difficulty recalling recent events and maintaining full attention to conversational or written language. Other common neurological symptoms in the early stages of the disease are motor impairments such as loss of balance and leg weakness, and behavioral changes, particularly apathy and social withdrawal. As the disease results in progressive nervous system deterioration, symptoms such as severe dementia, paraplegia, incontinence, and ataxia are likely to be observed.

A good reason to use a forced-choice method of evaluation is tht, as compared to other methods,
a. it's faster and easier to develop and use.
b. it reduces rater bias.
c. it has higher inter-rater reliability.
d. raters are more likely to use it accurately.

B. On a forced-choice rating scale, raters, in evaluating the employee, must choose among statements that appear equally favorable. In other words, the rater doesn't know if he or she is giving a "good" or a "bad" rating. This substantially reduces rater bias - in order to bias his or her ratings in favor or against an employee, the rater would have to guess which statement is supposed to be positive and which is supposed to be negative.

Choices A and D are the opposite of what is true about forced-choice scales. They are difficult to develop because it's not easy to generate statements that appear equally favorable, but truly differentiate between good and poor performance. And a problem with forced-choice methods is that supervisors are often less motivated to use them accurately, because they sometimes resent being taken out of the process of deciding who is a good worker and who isn't.

An expert witness is involved in a child custody case. What should he consider most when making a custody recommendation?

a. what child says he or she wants.
b. the best interest of the child.
c. the best interests of the person who hired him.
d. the fact that all custody recommendations must be tentative and made with caution.

B. In determining custody arrangements, what a court is primarily interested in is the best interests of the child. Therefore, when making a custody recommendation, this is the criterion that will be foremost in the expert's mind.

C. Faulty judgement and problems in concentration could be either frontal lobe or temporal lobe-related. However, since memory impairment is included in this question, the best answer is the temporal lobe. The subcortical nuclei implicated in memory lie under the temporal lobes. the parietal lobe is responsible for orientation in space. The occipital lobe is where vision is mediated.

If an employee and supervisor mutually set a performance goal, it usually results in a goal that is:

a. lower than each would set individually.
b. lower than the employee would set individually.
c. approximately the same as what the supervisor would set alone.
d. higher than if the supervisor set the goal alone.

D. There are substantial findings that mutual goal-setting will often result in higher goals than if the supervisor set the goals without the conference process. This is most true of unskilled employees at the the lowest job levels.

The neuropsychological term and definition that is incorrectly matched is:

D. You might be asked on the exam about some perceptial or motor disorder that is organically based. You should know the names for these neuropsychological syndromes. Agnosia refers to the loss of ability to recognize or comprehend various types of stimulation, usually nonlanguage. If the inability to comprehend is in the verbal area, the agnosia is typically called aphasia. Ataxia refers to the disorder of a functional system. It is typically used for problems in movement (taxis means movement). So that leaves apraxia as the team that is incorrectly defined. Apraxia refers to problems in voluntary movement. Here the reason it is defined incorrectly is that the statement reads "disturbances of involuntary movement."

The difference between the General Guidelines for Providers of Psychological Services and the Ethical Principles of Psychologists is that the former:
a. deals with delivery of services to consumers, and the latter with ethics in general.
b. deals with clinical practice, and the latter with ethics in general.
c. deals with consumers, and the latter with providers of psychological services.
d. is a case analysis of the latter.

A. This is a fundamental distinction. The Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct covers the actions and responsibilities of all APA members in teaching, research, clinical work, testing, private practice, administration, government, industry, etc. It's the basic standard of ethics for all of us. The General Guidelines, and the spin off known as the Specialty Guidelines, apply only to those psychologists who work in clinical, counseling, school, and and industral psychology. Note that these guidelines apply to the work, not to the person. Hence a research social psychologist who finds herself working as the director of a mental health center now finds her work falling under the province of the General Guidelines.

Now if you go back to the question you'll see why A is a better answer than B or C. The General Guidelines refer to all the work of applied psychology and this is subsumed best under alternative A. Choice B mentions only clinical practice, which is only part of what is covered by the Guidelines. And C mentions only consumers, which again isn't quite right: The General Guidelines deal also with agencies, private concerns in industrial areas, third-party patyers such as insurance comapnies, etc.

In Skinner's operant conditioning paradigm, the evidence indicating that learning has taken place is:

C. The cumulative response curves, which are always pictured in chapters on learning, show how much and at what rate the organism responded to the reinforcement. Thus, of the choices listed, rate of responding provides the best index of whether learning has taken place.

Which of the following is true regardinga an infant's crying?

a. For all infants, one cry represents all human emotions.
b. For infants in the first six months of life, one cry represents all human emotions; afterwards, different types of cries are distinguishable.
c. At birth, one cry represents all human emotions, but by the age of three weeks, cries for hunger, anger, and pain are distinguishable.
d. In a newborn infant, cries for hunger, anger, and pain are distinguishable.

D. Three types of cries have been identified in newborn infants: a cry for hunger, a cry for anger, and a cry for pain. A fourth cry, one for attention, develops later than the other types - about three weeks after birth. Parents quickly become adept at distinguishing between these cries, and research indicates that they are better at distinguishing their own babies' cries than those of a strange infant.

In determining the incremental validity of a selection test, the minimum amount of information one has to know is the:
a. base rate, sample size, and validity of the test.
b. selectio ratio, sample size, and validity of the test.
c. base rate, selection ratio, and validity of the test.
d. base rate, selection ratio, sample size, and validity of the test.

C. A job selection test's incremental validity is the increase in predictive accuracy that is obtained by using the test as compared to not using it. Three factors influence the incremetnal validity of a test: 1) the base rate, or the percentage of correct hiring decisions made when the test is not used; 2)the test's validity coefficient; and 3)the selection ratio, or the ratio of job openings to total applicants (for instance, if 100 people are applying for 5 positions, the selection ratio is 5/100, or .05).
Incremental validity is greatest when the base rate is moderate, the validity coefficient is high, and the selection ratio is low. The Taylor-Russell tables can be used to determine a test's incremental validity, given specific values for the base rate, validity coefficient, an selection ratio.